Ofcom, the UK body responsible for regulating the Internet, has recently announced the winners of its 4G spectrum auction. The results show that almost every carrier got its share of the cake: for instance, Telefonica (O2), Vodafone, Everything Everywhere, Three and BT subsidiary Niche Spectrum Ventures all won the auction and got their spectrum.

Nevertheless, the British government has only managed to raise £2.34 billion in the 4G auction, far short of the £3.5 billion it previously estimated in the budget. To compare, the 3G auction which was held 13 years ago raised as much as £22.5 billion. Vodafone has paid more than anyone else – £790 million for a bit of spectrum in 2.6GHz and 800MHz bands. The others’ share was considerably less.

In the meantime, the low frequency 800MHz band was freed up after analogue TV was switched off. It turned out that this frequency was ideally suited for widespread mobile coverage. At the same time, the 2.6GHz band appeared better at delivering capacity required by high data speeds. In other words, combining the two bands provides some obvious benefits.

Currently, the United Kingdom has only one 4G carrier, Everything Everywhere, which launched its LTE service in the end of 2012. The problem is that it isn’t doing well enough. Ofcom hopes that things will pick up very soon and in 4-5 years almost all UK citizens will be covered by 4G mobile services. However, it is unclear whether all consumers will rush to upgrade.

According to the terms of the auction, O2 will be required to provide indoor reception for at least 98% of the population and at least 95% of the population of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. However, all these targets need to be met only by 2017.